Neal Caine Backstabber's Ball CD

When one considers that the musicians on this quartet date are each associated, to an extent, with the New Orleans Young Lions and modern jazz movements, this music is rather surprising. There are no hints of parade rhythms; instead the result is a modern form of cool jazz. Bassist Neal Caine, who wrote all of the selections which sport original chord changes, keeps the group under tight control, although there are individual heroics and a few brief explosive moments. The tenors of Ned Goold and Stephen Riley have similar tones and styles, while Riley occasionally switches to alto clarinet for variety. Drummer Jason Marsalis is pretty laid-back for the most part, except for a few moments. This music has similarities to the type of cool jazz heard in Sweden in the 1950s although it is not an exact duplicate of anything. The "Intro," "Outro" and three "W M D Interludes" make the set unfold like a suite, and it holds one's interest throughout. Neal Caine's Backstabber's Ball is an excellent and fresh example of modern swinging jazz. ~ Scott Yanow

If you ask Neal Caine about his musical background, you won't get much of an answer at first. What would be the point? Where others might recite credentials and degrees, Neal just shrugs it off. To the rest of the world it seems that after being born in St. Louis in 1973, Neal just emerged full-blown at age 20, joining Elvin Jones band in 1994, where he played for three years alongside the grand master in a position formerly occupied by the late Jimmy Garrison. But he even shrugs that off. He's not trying to be mysterious. Better for the music to speak for itself each time out. Lest anyone think getting there is easy, though, it's best to point out that Neal began on the Suzuki Method at age 3, and has been making music since. By the time he arrived at Tulane in 1991 to study political science, he was already good enough as a bassist to be popular among musicians on the New Orleans scene, playing with Nicholas Payton, Ellis Marsalis, Brian Blade, and Donald Harrison, among others. Since his career-making stint with the Elvin Jones band, he's been the top pick on bass among vocal stars, spending a year with Betty Carter, a year with Diana Krall, and in the past few years as the driving pulse of the Harry Connick Jr. orchestra.Touring frequently brought Neal to establish a kind of dual residency between New York and New Orleans, and he has thus been a strong presence on both scenes for some time. On breaks, Neal would often end up working at Smalls. Being the sideman the cats wanted to get when they could, he ended up working often with the Smalls regulars including Gregory Tardy, Sherman Irby, Charles Owens, Claudia Acuña, Myron Walden, Joe Magnarelli, Sacha Perry, Daniel Freedman, Zaid Nasser, Frank Hewitt, and Ned Goold, himself featured on this release.I've heard the word "intuitive" used more than once by other musicians to describe Neal's playing. It is a discernable quality. This seems to be continuous with his origins as a Suzuki student, and with his inclinations towards a self-guided education. An understanding of the virtues of this approach might be found in John Dewey's philosophy of education, which hold self-educating among its ends, and emphasizes the primacy of praxis. Perhaps this explains why playing is as intuitive to Neal as speaking, and why the scholastic inhibition and self-consciousness that plagues so many others is nowhere present. Suzuki might say that this is just so.Neal's first recording for Smalls Records was on an as-yet unreleased Ned Goold sax-bass-drums trio recording, whose working title is Thanks Ira. With repeated listenings, the beauty of Neal's work on that record made itself increasingly known to me. I was struck by the vibrant and original lines, played fluidly and without artifice. And I encouraged him to play me his own original work. In the course of time, he made this recording and brought it to me, and I was taken in by the mood and feeling